A History of Time - Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days & Weeks

Why are there 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week? How did the days of the week get their names? Where did the two day weekend come from?

It will go live on Youtube on Tuesday, January 5th, 2021 at 12pm EST.

Time, it marches on relentlessly outside of human control. But humanity has long found a variety of ways to mark our passage through the eons. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. But why do we count our collective journey through the ages in these integers? A day makes sense, that’s one rotation of the earth on its axis and can easily be marked by the rising and setting of the sun. And a year is one orbit of the earth around the sun, traveling through the 4 seasons again and again. But why 60 seconds in a minute, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week and 12 months in a year? Let’s look back through history to learn the varied origins of these odd measures of time.

I make mini documentaries about women's history and royal history:
Sources:

Music: "Dream Of The Ancestor" by Asher Fulero

[Inamichan]

Channels like this are great. They answer questions I’ve always wondered but usually forget to google 😂

[HaydenReeves]

Imagine what life would be like if we just never had a sense of time. That would be insane

[brettlarch]

Seconds
Minutes
Hours
Days
Weeks
Months
Years
Decades
Centuries
Millenniums
Eons

[tomurg]

“Time is an artificial concept we ourselves have created to make the limitlessness of eternity and the universe more bearable, more human”
Robert Greene

[CSGray-nfhx]

Time zones sound like a good idea, but looking at that map still confuses me as much as why we still put our clocks back and forward when we really don’t need to anymore

[NichaelCramer]

“Why sixty?” is pretty straightforward. It’s divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20... Very convenient for any manipulations.
(Likewise, by extension, with 360, you get even more convenient divisors: 8, 9, 18, 30, 45, etc.)
On the other hand 10 is only divisible by 1, 2, and 5.

[whyareureadingthis]

I think she reading my mind, I was questioning myself this a few minutes ago

[EmmaErsblabla]

I have a small addition to the names of the days of the week! While Saturday in English is still derived from Saturn, modern Scandinavian countries have their own weird name for it: The (here Danish bc that's what I am lol) word for Saturday is "lørdag" derived from "laugardagr" meaning basically "laundry day" (more 1:1 translation: "Day of warm water") - which I think is a peculiar and funny outlier compared to all the celestial names lol

[warmporridge]

Fascinating! How do you always come up with new and interesting topics? Your well reasearched and well narrated videos are always a treat to me! Greetings from Germany!

[abandonedpast]

Thinking about time, tide, earth rotation etc. is so mind boggling, it's just amazing!!

[LucieCornelia]

If anyone is wondering in Norway Wednesday's are called onsdag after Odin. I dont know how it became Wednesday but this might help.

[steff.sanchez]

I'd love to see more history about the actual timepieces - from the sun dial to the candle with nails to later on pocket watches and modern smartwatches - (even the radium girls!) So interesting to go from needing your local church bells to tell you the hourly time versus the instantaneous digital watch! Thank you - awesome video as usual!

[mahparamuzammil]

Wow I never imagined that Thursday is named after Thor, I'm amazed keep it up Ma'am Lindsay.

[TYINTOSPACE]

When she said Friday is frigg, I start laughing.
I was like Yes, it's the friggin weekend!
Get it!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[projectshirostudios]

Good video but there was no mention of the labor groups of the late 1800s/early 1900s who fought long and hard for weekends and 40- hour work weeks.

[erikaleonard]

Thank you Lindsay for another great lesson in history! 🥰

[Nisa_]

Funfact: Just like Jews, Muslims have approximately two days off for the holiday. E.g. in the Ottoman empire, the schools, marketplaces and state institutions used to work Monday-Thursday noon. Then they were considered off from Thursday noon until Saturday morning and work at the weekends.

[joonlovescrabs]

Guys I’m so sad... I just realized I wasn’t subscribed to her this whole time :(

[rudolfmecklenburg]

If you have done a video about Maria Theresa, maybe do one about her nemesis, Frederick the Great of Prussia?

[FcBow]

Great video! Slight correction, though: Tiw, or Tyr, is far from a "little known god." He is one of the most recognizable gods in the Norse pantheon beside Thor and Odin.